Code First adding default field values in database (ASP.NET MVC)

Question

There are two models
User

public class User
{
private const int NameLength = 200;
private const int EmailLength = 100;

[Key]
[DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
public int Id { get; set; }

[StringLength(NameLength)]
public string Name { get; set; }

[Required]
[EmailAddress]
[StringLength(EmailLength)]
public string Email { get; set; }

[Required]
[DataType(DataType.Password)]
[StringLength(200)]
public string Password { get; set; }

public string PasswordSalt { get; set; }

[Required]
[DefaultValue(UserType.User)]
public UserType Type { get; set; }

[DefaultValue(true)]
public bool IsActive { get; set; }

public virtual List<Task> Tasks { get; set; }

public User()
{
    Tasks = new List<Task>();
}
}
[Flags]
public enum UserType
{
    Admin = 0,
    User = 1
}

and RegisterUserModel which I use to register user

public class RegisterUserModel
{
    private const int NameLength = 200;
    private const int EmailLength = 100;
    private const int PasswordMinLength = 5;
    private const int PasswordMaxLength = 20;

    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [StringLength(NameLength)]
    public string Name { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [EmailAddress]
    [StringLength(EmailLength)]
    public string Email { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [DataType(DataType.Password)]
    [StringLength(PasswordMaxLength, MinimumLength = PasswordMinLength)]
    public string Password { get; set; }
}

and this is method from my controller

[HttpPost]
[AjaxAction]
public ActionResult Registration(RegisterUserModel registerUser)
{

if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
    if (!IsUserExist(registerUser.Email))
    {    
        var crypto = new SimpleCrypto.PBKDF2();

        var encrpPass = crypto.Compute(registerUser.Password);

        var newUser = db.Users.Create();

        newUser.Name = registerUser.Name;
        newUser.Email = registerUser.Email;
        newUser.Type = UserType.User;
        newUser.IsActive = true;

        newUser.Password = encrpPass;
        newUser.PasswordSalt = crypto.Salt;

        db.Users.Add(newUser);
        db.SaveChanges();

        FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(newUser.Email, false); 

        return Json(new {status = "OK", message = "Success"}, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }
    return Json(new { status = "ERROR", message = "User already exists" }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
return Json(new { status = "ERROR", message = "Data is incorrect" }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

And I don't like I need to set values

newUser.Type = UserType.User;
newUser.IsActive = true;

in controller manually although I have these default values in my User model, I think it's not very good practice, but I don't know how to avoid it?

Chris Pratt · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-02 14:23:29Z

2

DefaultValueAttribute doesn't do what you think it does, namely, actually set an actual value on the property. If you want the property to have a default value, then you need a custom getter and setter:

private UserType? type;
public UserType Type
{
    get { return type ?? UserType.User; }
    set { type = value; }
}

answered Dec 2, 2015 at 14:23

Chris Pratt

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2 Comments

Heidel Over a year ago

Veeery intresting, I was sure DefaultValueAttribute should works exactly this way ) Thanks a lot for suggestion, I will try to use it!

Chris Pratt Over a year ago

Nope. It used by certain parts of .NET, mainly serializers, but it's not universal, and doesn't do anything in the context of MVC or Entity Framework.

Márcio Duarte · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-02 14:28:29Z

1

In that scenario you can either use the properties to set the values for the User or you can create a constructor and set those properties inside..

If you don't like setting properties manually you can use a mapping tool such as AutoMapper (http://automapper.org/) to do the mapping for you.

Regards,

answered Dec 2, 2015 at 14:28

Márcio Duarte

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